Sound Consumer archiveJune 2013

Mainstream supermarkets carry an average of more than 38,000 different items with more than 10,000 chemicals sprinkled among them. The majority of ingredients are not tested by the government but instead are deemed safe by the food manufacturers themselves.

A puzzling disease has affected hundreds of thousands of workers in sugarcane, rice and cotton fields around the world. It has killed tens of thousands of people in the Pacific coastal regions of Central America over the past 20 years.

Shrimp is the most popular seafood in the United States — Americans collectively consume more than 1 billion pounds of it every year. About 90 percent is imported from overseas, primarily Asia and Latin America.

Read about NOSB decisions regarding allowance of antibiotic sprays used in organic apple and pear production, seed purity standard and rejection of several petitions asking that certain materials be allowed in organic foods.

PCC is pleased to say we now sell pastured eggs at all our nine stores, depending on availability. They come from a variety of Washington farms where the chickens run free and feast on fresh pasture year-round.

Local, organic strawberries, kale, blueberries and onions make their debut this month, along with organic stone fruit from California. Also look for new flavors of PCC Bakery muffins, raw foods, brown rice spring roll wrappers and more!

The cherry crop could be smaller this year, food prices continue to rise, and bluefin tuna are functionally exctinct. But not all food news is bad this month: Seafood Watch has upgraded the sustainability status of several species of fish.